NYC Subway Murder: Alleged Pusher Says ‘He Attacked Me First’

Naeem Davis, 30,was arraigned Wednesday evening on a second-degree murder charge and held without bail over the subway murder of Ki-Suck Han, though Davis says that it wasn’t his fault. “He attacked me first. He grabbed me,” Davis told reporters.

His Legal Aid lawyer, Stephen Pokart, said that Davis “was involved in an incident with a man who was drunk and angry,” reports MSN.

Han’s death has been the subject of interest and speculation this week, not just due to the horrific events that lead to his death but due in large part to the media’s handling of the story. The New York Post ran a controversial photo of Han, taken moments before his death, by freelance photographer Umar Abbasi.

It received overwhelmingly negative criticism, and both the Post and Abbasi have defended themselves non-stop since running the subway death photo. Gawker interviewed several award-winning photographers who mostly defended Abbasi but questioned the Post‘s judgment in running the photo.

Still, many have been much harder on Abbasi and his inability or failure to intervene.

“I would certainly try to do whatever I possibly could,” said Denise Martorana, 34, as she waited for the “A” train at Penn Station on Wednesday evening. “I certainly wouldn’t be able to stand there and watch, that’s for sure.”

Abbasi blames others on the platform. “The people who were standing close to him … they could have moved and grabbed him and pulled him up. No one made an effort.”

Han’s only child, 20-year-old Ashley, said, “The thought of someone helping him up in a matter of seconds would have been great,” but added, “What’s done is done,” and “I just wish I had one last chance to tell my dad how much I love him.”

Articles And Offers From The Web

Comments

Which leads one to wonder why hadn’t Suk Han just left Davis alone? What was he hoping to achieve by approaching the deranged panhandler? Was this his way to console him, console himself inadvertently given the strife he had endured earlier that morning and the fact he was drinking, or was he just trying to reach out in earnest to an individual who he momentarily identified with and plead with him to rein in his obtrusive behavior? Something that in the end may have paradoxically led to his own untimely demise?